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Wheatus
Wheatus is a Pop Rock/Pop Punk band from Newport, Long Island. Biography The band was formed when Brendan B. Brown, Peter Brown, and Rich Liegey began writing music together in 1998. In 1999, through New york attorney Ray Maiello, the band signed with Kevin Patrick at Columbia Records. After the success of their demo, the band wrote a self titled album. They supported the album and its singles: "Teenage Dirtbag", "A Little Respect", "Leroy", and "Wannabe Gangstar", gaining much popularity. Then, the band recruited Liz Brown, Brendan's sister, and Kathryn Froggat as backup vocalists, and Shannon Harris of Relish signed on as a keyboardist, in preparation of their second album. Brendan Brown began to disagree with Columbia Records in regards to having Wheatus self-produce the album, and because of that, Hand Over Your Loved Ones, received little promotion and didn't sell well. They released one single, "American in Amsterdam". In 2004, Shannon Harris left and was replaced by Michael Bellar. A year later, the band re-released Hand Over Your Loved Ones under the name Suck Fony with two new songs William McGovern and Hit Me with Your Best Shot. The band released it on their own label, Montauk Mantis. The band only released the album on their website, but was available in stores in Ireland and the UK, and Wheatus albums became something of a rarity. This attracted a distribution contract. After this, Wheatus signed to Warner Brothers Records to perform a theme song for the cartoon show, Jackie Chan Adventures. The song "Punk Ass Bitch" was chosen, but was replaced by another instrumental theme. The song was used in commercials and as the ending theme for the show. In 2005, Mike McCabe left the band and was replaced by Nicolas DiPierro. Michael Bellar also left and was replaced by Gerard Hoffman. In 2006, DiPierro left and was replaced by Matt Milligan. Then, Pete Brown, the drummer and co-founder, left to pursue a normal life. He was replaced by Kevin Garcia. Kathryn Froggatt left due to her pregnancy and was replaced by Connie Renda who was recently replaced by missy. Liz Brown left the band in 2007. The band is currently working on new material. Members Brendan B. Brown – vocals, guitar Leo Freire – drums Matthew Milligan – bass Mark Palmer – keyboards Joey Slater – back-up vocals Gabrielle Sterbenz – back-up vocals Former members Rich Liegey – bass Kevin Joaquin Garcia - drums Gerard Charles Hoffmann - Keyboards Vanessa Jimenez – back-up vocals Philip Jimenez – multiple instruments Shannon Patrick Harris – keyboards Mike Joseph McCabe – bass Michael Bellar – keyboards Nicolas diPierro – bass Peter McCarrick Brown – drums Kathryn Elizabeth Froggatt – back-up vocals Constance Renda – back-up vocals Elizabeth Grace Brown – back-up vocals Melissa Heselton – back-up vocals Albums *Wheatus (2000) #7 UK *Hand Over Your Loved Ones (2003) *Suck Fony (2005 re-issue of Hand Over Your Loved Ones with two new tracks and altered track order) *TooSoonMonsoon (2005) Notes *Wheatus is playing a show at the Blender Theater at Gramercy in NYC with Long Island locals Gabriel the Marine and Patent Pending on January 16th. For tickets contact Gabriel the Marine at gabrielthemarine@gmail.com or myspsace Category: Pop Punk Bands Category: Alternative Rock Bands